


First Glances

by HolmesianDeduction



Category: Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011), Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy - All Media Types, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy - John Le Carré
Genre: Ann Smiley's incredible ability to judge a man's sexuality at a glance as told by George, Dynamics, F/M, Implied Relationships, M/M, Pre-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-11-08
Updated: 2012-11-08
Packaged: 2017-11-18 06:08:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 590
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/557752
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HolmesianDeduction/pseuds/HolmesianDeduction
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A young Peter Guillam has his first real glimpse of Ann Smiley and receives a warning, which spikes his natural paranoia in regards to both his sexuality and his feelings towards her husband.</p>
            </blockquote>





	First Glances

             Peter was struck first by Ann.  Ann Smiley who swept into the room, as another man once described her, “like a Celtic goddess” and silently, effortlessly demanded the attention of all present, just by virtue of her being there.  He had heard of her long before he had seen her - whispers in the break rooms of the Circus and in the field, in the periods between work when fieldmen congregated and swapped stories and the latest word on the higher-ups.  Ann Smiley, errant wife to Control’s right hand man - a woman who was, in so many ways, everything that her husband was not.  Not for nothing, it was whispered in the corners of safehouses, had Roy Bland taken up the habit of courting with any Deb who bore even the slightest resemblance to his old recruiter’s spouse.  In other corners, it was whispered that where Bland had been rejected, others had been successful, and the name that he heard repeated time and time again was one that he could only blush to think of in that context.

             Why then, Peter caught himself thinking, was his attention arrested, not by the statuesque figure in the daringly cut, but elegant red dress, but by the figure trailing after her - stooping and bespectacled and clad in a - next to his wife - almost alarmingly conservatively cut charcoal suit?  Because it was George Smiley, his expression slightly bewildered and infinitely out of place at the New Year’s Eve party as he scanned the room, who managed to command the bulk of Peter’s attention, conjuring a mixture of almost familial affection for a man he had grown up knowing, and alarming shyness which led him to flash a quick smile before averting his eyes the instant that George looked at him.

             Thankful that the warmth creeping up the base of his neck could be discarded as the effects of a little bit too much drinking by a fledgling at his first real - invited at least - New Year’s party with what his mother had, even in the final throes of her illness, called “The Circus Set,” Peter dared another look in George’s direction.  To his relief, this time George was engaged in the ritual of greetings and Control had his ear, but again Peter was struck by Ann Smiley, who met his gaze from across the room, and he was overrun by the sickening sensation that she could read his every thought and feeling in a glance.   _She knows._  He swallowed hard and averted his gaze from the faint smile and raised eyebrow that seemed to represent more a bemused challenge than anything.

             “Be careful around her if I were you, Peter.”  Bill Haydon’s voice came from just behind his ear and Peter nearly leapt a foot at the sudden warmth of the older man’s breath against his ear.

             Silently cursing himself for not noticing his approach, Peter swallowed the rest of his drink before replying.  “Oh?”

             “Mmhmn.”  Bill chuckled - though whether at Peter’s reaction or some private joke, Peter couldn’t say - and leaned an elbow against the window frame.  “Ann’s always been canny about people - they say she can tell a great deal about a man’s habits just at a glance, if you catch my meaning.”

             Shuddering nearly imperceptibly under Bill’s gaze, Peter bit back an impulsive “Wonder what she could tell about you” and merely nodded.  “Duly noted.”

             But as his eyes returned to rest on the Smileys, the sinking feeling that had started twisting in his gut when she first looked at him remained.


End file.
